Method for routing communications from a mobile device to a target device

ABSTRACT

A method of routing communications from a mobile device to a target device. A non-whispered speech target device routing list and a whispered speech target device routing list are stored at a memory that is accessible by the mobile device. The mobile device identifies speech characteristics associated with a speech input and further determines whether the speech input corresponds to a whispered speech based on the speech characteristics. When it is determined that the speech input corresponds to a whispered speech, the mobile device routes communications corresponding to the speech input to each target device included in the whispered speech target device routing list. When it is determined that the speech input does not correspond to a whispered speech, the mobile device either routes or refrains from routing communications corresponding to the speech input to each target device included in the non-whispered speech target device routing list.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Communication devices such as mobile phones and tablets are now incommon use by users and provide users with instant access toincreasingly valuable information and resources. In emergencysituations, communication devices are even more helpful as they allowthe users to immediately reach out to someone, such as via a 911emergency call, to seek help or share information about the situation.However, in such emergency situations, it may not be always possible forusers to communicate in the same manner (e.g., with similar loudness) asthey would speak during a non-emergency situation. This is particularlytrue for a scenario when the user of a communication device is unable tocommunicate the situation with clear and audible speech to avoidattention from a perpetrator during the emergency situation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, which together with the detailed description below areincorporated in and form part of the specification and serve to furtherillustrate various embodiments of concepts that include the claimedinvention, and to explain various principles and advantages of thoseembodiments.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating a communication system inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a device diagram showing a device structure of a mobile deviceof the system of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a method of routing communicationsfrom a mobile device to a target device in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a first example scenario in which the method ofrouting communications from a mobile device to a target device isimplemented in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a second example scenario in which the method ofrouting communications from a mobile device to a target device isimplemented in accordance with some embodiments.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements inthe figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help toimprove understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

The apparatus and method components have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As described above, in emergency situations, it may not be alwayspossible for users to communicate in the same manner as they would speakduring a non-emergency situation. In such situations, users often feelthe need to whisper (for example, speak at a lower volume level) toavoid unnecessary attention, for example, from an armed shooter duringthe emergency situation. There are different ways to determine whether agiven situation has escalated, or that there is an imminent danger at alocation. One way to determine that the user (e.g., a 911 caller or anofficer responding to an incident) is in danger is to identify that theuser is whispering. In other words, whispered speech is an indicationthat the user may be in danger. Public safety personnel such as policeofficers also often use whispered speech to communicate over theirradios to maintain their covert status. Accordingly, communicationsystems, in particular systems that are employed for supporting publicsafety communications, need to distinguish a situation in whichwhispered speech is detected from speech input of a user and furtherperform a situation escalation response procedure when whispered speechis detected.

Disclosed is a method for routing communications from a mobile device toa target device. The disclosed method performs a situation escalationresponse procedure in which communications corresponding to a speechinput is routed to a different set of target devices when whisperedspeech is detected. In other words, the disclosed method uses thedistinction between a whispered speech and a non-whispered speechassociated with a speech input to selectively identify the targetdevices to which communications corresponding to the speech input needto be routed.

One embodiment provides a method of routing communications from a mobiledevice to a target device. The method includes storing, at a memory, anon-whispered speech target device routing list and a whispered speechtarget device routing list that is different from the non-whisperedspeech target device routing list; identifying, at an electronicprocessor, one or more speech characteristics associated with a speechinput received at the mobile device; determining, at the electronicprocessor, whether the speech input corresponds to a whispered speechbased on the one or more speech characteristics; when it is determinedthat the speech input corresponds to a whispered speech, routing, at theelectronic processor, communications corresponding to the speech inputto each target device included in the whispered speech target devicerouting list; and when it is determined that the speech input does notcorrespond to a whispered speech, one of: routing, at the electronicprocessor, communications corresponding to the speech input to eachtarget device included in the non-whispered speech target device routinglist, and refraining, at the electronic processor, from routingcommunications corresponding to the speech input to any target deviceincluded in the non-whispered speech target device routing list or thewhispered speech target device routing list.

Another embodiment provides a mobile device that includes a memory, awireless transceiver, and an electronic processor communicativelycoupled to the memory and wireless transceiver. The memory stores anon-whispered speech target device routing list and a whispered speechtarget device routing list that is different from the non-whisperedspeech target device routing list. The electronic processor isconfigured to: identify one or more speech characteristics associatedwith a speech input received at the mobile device; determine whether thespeech input corresponds to a whispered speech based on the one or morespeech characteristics; when it is determined that the speech inputcorresponds to a whispered speech, route, via the wireless transceiver,communications corresponding to the speech input to each target deviceincluded in the whispered speech target device routing list; and when itis determined that the speech input does not correspond to a whisperedspeech, one of: route, via the wireless transceiver, communicationscorresponding to the speech input to each target device included in thenon-whispered speech target device routing list, and refrain fromrouting communications corresponding to the speech input to any targetdevice included in the non-whispered speech target device routing listor the whispered speech target device routing list.

Each of the above-mentioned embodiments will be discussed in more detailbelow, starting with example communication system and devicearchitectures of the system in which the embodiments may be practiced,followed by an illustration of processing steps for achieving themethod, device, and system described herein. Further advantages andfeatures consistent with this disclosure will be set forth in thefollowing detailed description, with reference to the figures.

Referring now to the drawings, and in particular FIG. 1, an examplecommunication system 100 is shown including a mobile device 110 and aplurality of target devices 120-1 through 120-n. The mobile device 110may be operated by a user 130 (for example, a public safety personnel),who may carry or wear the mobile device 110. The mobile device 110includes, but not limited to a battery-powered portable radio used fornarrowband and/or broadband direct-mode or infrastructurecommunications, a battery-powered radio speaker microphone (RSM) videocapture device, a laptop having an integrated video camera and used fordata applications such as incident support applications, smart glasseswhich may be virtual reality, augmented reality, or mixed realityglasses, wearable communication devices, mobile phones, and vehicularradios. The mobile device 110 includes one or more wirelesscommunication interfaces for communicating with other devices ornetworks in the communication system 100. The mobile device 110 isconfigured to communicate with one or more of the plurality of targetdevices 120-1 through 120-n via a communication network 140. Wirelessair-interface link 150 communicatively couples the mobile device 110 tothe communication network 140 and other network devices (not shown).Although, only one mobile device 110 is shown in FIG. 1 for illustrativepurposes, any number of mobile devices 110 may be implemented in thecommunication system 100.

The plurality of target devices 120-1 through 120-n can beinterchangeably referred to, collectively, as target devices 120, andgenerically as a target device 120. The target device 120 is implementedas a communication device or server that is configured to receivecommunications from the mobile device 110 via the communication network140. For example, in public safety communication systems, the targetdevice 120 may be implemented as a client device or a server. Forexample, the target device 120 may be a mobile device operated byanother public safety personnel, a dispatch console that is operated bya dispatcher, or a public safety answering point (PSAP) terminal that isoperated to receive emergency calls such as 911 calls. Wired or wirelessair-interface links 160-1 through 160-n communicatively couple therespective target devices 120-1 through 120-n to the mobile device 110and other network devices (not shown), via the communication network140. The communication network 140 may include a wired or wirelessnetwork, or a combination of wired and wireless networks, operated forexample, by a cellular service provider, or any public safety networkoperated by a government or private organization. In one embodiment, thecommunication networks 140 may include one or more of land mobile radio(LMR) networks, such as implemented in accordance with Association ofPublic Safety Communication officials (APCO) Project 25 (P25) networksand long-term evolution (LTE) networks. The communication networks 140,for example, may include network components such as base stations (notshown) that can receive information (data, voice, video, etc.) in asignal from the mobile device 110 and the target devices 120. The basestations can also transmit information in signals to the mobile device110 and target devices 120. In accordance with some embodiments, themobile device 110 may use direct mode of operation to communicate withthe target devices 120. For example, the mobile device 110 is wirelesslycoupled to a target device 120 via a direct-mode air interface link (notshown) in accordance with one or more direct-mode air-interfaceprotocols, such as Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), InfraredData Association (IrDA), ZigBee, direct-mode land mobile radio (LMR),and/or Wi-Fi, as long as the devices 110, 120 are within mutualtransmission of one other.

In accordance with some embodiments, the mobile device 110 is configuredto receive speech input 170 from the user 130 and route communications(e.g., content of speech input 170) corresponding to the speech input170 to target devices 120 that are selected based on whether the speechinput 170 corresponds to a whispered speech or a non-whispered speech.

FIG. 2 is an example functional block diagram of a mobile device 110operating within the communication system 100 in accordance with someembodiments. While FIG. 2 represents a mobile device 110 described abovewith respect to FIG. 1, depending on the type of mobile device 110, themobile device 110 may include fewer or additional components inconfigurations different from that illustrated in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile device 110 includes a radio frequencycommunications unit 210 coupled to a common data and address bus 222 ofa processing unit 220. The mobile device 110 may also include an input230 and a display screen 240, each coupled to be in communication withprocessing unit 220. The input 230 may include an alphanumeric physicalkeypad (or virtual keypad in cooperation with capacitive touch displayscreen 240) for inputting text for communications. In some embodiments,the input 230 may include a push-to-talk (PTT) key that functions toactivate a transmit function in a half or full-duplex communicationdevice, transitioning the mobile device 110 (when activated) from alisten-only mode to a transmit-only mode (for half-duplex communicationdevices) or transmit and receive mode (for full-duplex communicationdevices). The display screen 240 may further function to displaycommunications received via communications unit 210. A microphone 250captures speech input 170 from a user 130 that is further vocoded byprocessing unit 220 and transmitted as voice, text, or multimedia databy communications unit 210 to other communication devices such as targetdevices 120 in system 100. A communications speaker 260 reproduces audiothat is decoded from voice data transmissions received from othercommunication devices (e.g., target devices 120) via the communicationsunit 210.

The processing unit 220 may also include an encoder/decoder 221 with anassociated code Read Only Memory (ROM) 223 for storing data forinitializing system components and encoding and/or decoding voice orother traffic information (including image data, audio data, video data,text data, control signals, etc.) that may be transmitted or received bythe mobile device 110. The processing unit 220 may further include anelectronic processor 224 coupled, by the common data and address bus222, to the encoder/decoder 221, a random access memory (RAM) 225, and astatic memory 270.

The radio frequency communications unit 210 is a combined receiver andtransmitter (e.g., transceiver) having a common antenna 212. The radiofrequency communications unit 210 has a transceiver 214 coupled to theantenna 212 via a radio frequency amplifier 216. The transceiver 214 maybe a transceiver operating in accordance with one or more standardprotocols, such as a digital mobile radio (DMR) transceiver, a Project25 (P25) transceiver, a terrestrial trunked radio (TETRA) transceiver, aBluetooth transceiver, a long term evolution (LTE) transceiver, a Wi-Fitransceiver perhaps operating in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard(e.g., 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g), a WiMAX transceiver perhaps operatingin accordance with an IEEE 802.16 standard, and/or other similar type ofwireless transceiver configurable to communicate via a wireless network.The transceiver 214 is also coupled to a combined modulator/demodulator(MOD/DEMOD) 216 that is coupled to the encoder/decoder 221.

The electronic processor 224 has ports for coupling to the input 230 andto the display screen 240. The electronic processor 224 further hasports for coupling to the microphone 250 and to the speaker 260. Theelectronic processor 224 may include a microprocessor, a logic circuit,an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmablegate array (FPGA), or another suitable electronic device. In someembodiments, the static memory 270 may store operating code 272 for theelectronic processor 224 that, when executed by the electronic processor224, perform one or more of the operations set forth in FIGS. 3-5 andaccompanying text. Static memory 270 may comprise, for example, a harddisk drive (HDD), an optical disk drives (ODD) such as a compact disk(CD) drive or digital versatile disc (DVD) drive, a solid-state drive(SSD), a tape drive, a flash memory drive, or a tape drive, to name afew.

In some embodiments, the static memory 270 stores talk group data (notshown) that includes group subscription information associated with themobile device 110. The group subscription information includes a groupidentifier that may identify a talk group to which the mobile device 110is registered. The mobile device 110 may additionally track or haveaccess to group subscription information that, for each group identifierassociated with a particular group of devices (e.g., talk group),identifies communication devices (e.g., by a device identifier (ID) suchas a hardware ID, hardware Media Access Control (MAC) address, InternetProtocol (IP) address, radio ID, International Mobile SubscriberIdentity (IMSI), a serial number, or some other unique identifier thatcan be used to identify subscribed member communication devices) thatare members of the particular group of communication devices. In someembodiments, one or more of the target devices 120 may be associatedwith a talk group in which the mobile device 110 is also a member. Theterm “talk group” and “communication group” are interchangeably used inthe description, and that the media data being exchanged among themembers of the group (e.g., mobile device 110 and target devices 120)could be any suitable type of data, such as voice data, image data,video data, and the like.

The static memory 270 further stores a non-whispered speech targetdevice routing list 274 and whispered speech target device routing list276. In accordance with some embodiments, the whispered speech targetdevice routing list 276 and non-whispered speech target device routinglist 274 are generated and/or stored in another device, server, or in acloud computing cluster that is accessible by the mobile device 110.

The non-whispered speech target device routing list 274 identifies oneor more of the target devices 120 shown in FIG. 1. The static memory 270also stores a whispered speech target device routing list 276 thatidentifies one or more of the target devices 120. Each target device 120in the respective lists 274, 276 is identified by any unique identifier(e.g., device ID or user ID or contact number) associated with thetarget device 120. In accordance with embodiments, the non-whisperedspeech target device routing list 274 and whispered speech target devicerouting list 276, each include a different set of target devices. Inother words, the whispered speech target device routing list 276 mayinclude at least one target device which is not included in thenon-whispered speech target device routing list 274 or alternatively,the whispered speech target device routing list 276 may not include atleast one target device which is included in the non-whispered speechtarget device routing list 274. For example, the non-whispered speechtarget device routing list 274 includes target devices 120-1 and 120-2and the whispered speech target device routing list 276 includes adifferent set of devices, for example target devices 120-3 and 120-n. Inother embodiments, the whispered speech target device routing list 276may include each of the one or more target devices 120 included in thenon-whispered speech target device routing list 274 in addition to theone or more target devices 120 that are not included in thenon-whispered speech target device routing list 274. For example, thenon-whispered speech target device routing list 274 includes targetdevices 120-1 and 120-2 and the whispered speech target device routinglist 276 includes target devices 120-1 and 120-2 as well as targetdevices 120-3 and 120-n.

In one embodiment, the non-whispered speech target device routing list274 and whispered speech target device routing list 276 are generated(or updated) and stored at the memory 270 prior to receiving andprocessing a speech input 170 at the mobile device 110. In thisembodiment, the non-whispered speech target device routing list 274 mayinclude target devices 120 selected from one or more communicationgroups in which the user 130 of the mobile device 110 is also a member.In some cases, the non-whispered speech target device routing list 274is updated to include only target devices 120 that are members of agiven communication group with which the mobile device 110 is currentlycommunicating. For example, the mobile device 110 may be currentlycommunicating with ‘first responders’ group that includes all firstresponders assigned to a particular incident. In this case, thenon-whispered speech target device routing list 274 is generated/updatedto include only target devices 120 that are members of the ‘firstresponders’ group. Similarly, the whispered speech target device routinglist 276 may include target devices 120 selected from one or morepre-determined communication groups in which the user 130 of the mobiledevice 110 is also a member. For example, the mobile device 110 may becurrently communicating with ‘first responders’ group, however themobile device 110 may also be part of a pre-determined group named‘escalated incident group’ which may include target devices that are notpart of the ‘first responders’ group. In this case, the target devices120 included in ‘escalated incident’ group may be associated with users,for example, supervisors or commanders of the first responder, who areat a higher position (relative to the user 130 of the mobile device 110)within the chain of command of the user 130. Accordingly, the whisperedspeech target device routing list 276 may include only target devices120 selected from the ‘escalated incident’ group. As a further example,the whispered speech target device routing list 276 may include a targetdevice 120 that is registered to receive an emergency call (i.e., acontact number from user's emergency contact list or alternatively apublic number such as ‘911’ emergency contact number), while thenon-whispered speech target device routing list 274 may correspond toone or more target devices 120 with which the user 130 is currentlycommunicating via a private or group call.

In other embodiments, the whispered speech target device routing list276 is dynamically generated and stored at the memory 270 in response toreceiving a speech input 170 at the mobile device 110. For example, thetarget devices 120 to be included in the whispered speech target devicerouting list 276 are dynamically selected based on one or morecontextual parameters associated with the speech input 170 received atthe mobile device 110. The contextual parameters include, but notlimited to, a location of the mobile device 110, user profile (role,experience, skill level, performance etc.) associated with a user 130 ofthe mobile device 110, type of an incident assigned to the user 130including whether the incident assignment is of covert type, biometricdata (such as heart rate data, stress level etc.), talk group data,accessory coupled to the mobile device 110, proximity to other users ordevices and their corresponding profile (whether civilian, suspect, oran officer), content (e.g., type of emergency) of the speech input 170,call status/mode, device configuration of the mobile device 110,environmental noise level, and other possible contextual parametersassociated with escalation of an incident. In these embodiments, themobile device 110 selects target devices 120 based on the contextualparameters associated with the speech input 170.

In accordance with embodiments, the whispered speech target devicerouting list 276 and non-whispered speech target device routing list 274respectively identifies the target devices 120 to which communicationscorresponding to a speech input 170 is to be routed based on whether thespeech input 170 corresponds to a whispered speech or not. An embodimentof a method of routing communications from the mobile device 110 to atarget device 120 that is selected based on whether the speech input 170corresponds to a whispered speech or a non-whispered speech is furtherdescribed in FIG. 3 below.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart diagram of a method 300 for routingcommunications from a mobile device to a target device. While aparticular order of processing steps, message receptions, and/or messagetransmissions is indicated in FIG. 3 as an example, timing and orderingof such steps, receptions, and transmissions may vary where appropriatewithout negating the purpose and advantages of the examples set forth indetail throughout the remainder of this disclosure. The method shown inFIG. 3 can be performed by one or more components, for example,electronic processor 224 of the mobile device 110, and will be describedwith reference to the functions and components of the system 100.

At block 310, the mobile device 110 stores, at a memory 270, anon-whispered speech target device routing list 274 and whispered speechtarget device routing list 276. As described above with reference toFIG. 2, the non-whispered speech target device routing list 274 andwhispered speech target device routing list 276 may be respectivelygenerated and stored at the memory 270 prior to the mobile device 110receiving a speech input 170 from the user 130. In these embodiments,the non-whispered speech target device routing list 274 and whisperedspeech target device routing list 276 further include respectivelyidentified target devices 120 that are associated with one or morecommunication groups in which the mobile device 110 is alreadyregistered. Further, in these embodiments, the non-whispered speechtarget device routing list 274 may be updated to include only targetdevices 120 of a current talk group with which the mobile device 110 iscommunicating. The whispered speech target device routing list 276 maybe dynamically updated in response to the speech input 170 based oncontextual parameters associated with the speech input 170. For example,the mobile device 110 defines a geofence (i.e., geographical boundary)based on the current location of the mobile device 110 or a locationassociated with the incident, and further selects only those targetdevices 120 (to be included in the whispered speech target devicerouting list 276) that are currently located within the definedgeofence. As another example, the mobile device 110 in response toreceiving the speech input 170 corresponding to a whispered speech,selects one or more target devices 120 based on the role andrelationship associated with the mobile device 110 and the one or moretarget devices 120. In this example, the mobile device 110 may onlyselect target devices 120 of users who are at a higher level (e.g.,supervisor or commander) within the chain of command of the user 130 ofthe mobile device 110.

At block 320, the mobile device 110 identifies, at the electronicprocessor 224, one or more speech characteristics associated with aspeech input 170 received via a microphone 250 at the mobile device 110.In accordance with embodiments, the electronic processor 224, uponreceiving the speech input 170 via the microphone 250, processes thespeech input 170 to extract speech characteristics associated with thespeech input 170. The speech characteristics include acousticcharacteristics associated with the speech input 170 such as volumelevel, energy level, frequency level, amplitude level, and the like. Inother embodiments, the speech characteristics include linguisticcharacteristics associated with the speech input 170 such as intonationlevel, tone level, stress level, pause duration, rhythm, and the like.In accordance with embodiments, the speech characteristics are used todetermine whether a given speech input corresponds to a whispered speechor not. Other variations of speech characteristics that can be used todetermine whispered speech exist as well.

At block 330, the mobile device 110 determines, at the electronicprocessor 224, whether the speech input 170 corresponds to a whisperedspeech based on the one or more speech characteristics identified atblock 320. In accordance with some embodiments, the mobile device 110determines whether the one or more speech characteristics or acombination thereof are within a predetermined range of a whisperedspeech level. As used herein, the term “whispered speech level” maycorrespond to a predetermined range of speech characteristics such asvolume level, energy level, frequency level, amplitude level, or acombination thereof at which the whispered speech can be differentiatedfrom the non-whispered speech (e.g., loud speech). The mobile device 110determines that the speech input 170 corresponds to a whispered speechwhen the one or more speech characteristics are within the predeterminedrange of the whispered speech level. Otherwise, the mobile device 110determines that the speech input 170 corresponds to a non-whisperedspeech when the one or more speech characteristics are outside (eitherat a lower range or at a higher range relative to the predeterminedrange) of the predetermined range of whispered speech level.

In some other embodiments, the speech characteristic associated with thespeech input 170 may also include an indicator corresponding to one ormore gestures made by the user 130 while providing speech input 170 atthe mobile device 110. The mobile device 110 determines whether thespeech input corresponds to a whispered speech based on the gestureindicator. For example, the mobile device 110 may acquire images of theuser 130 (via a camera (not shown)) while the user 130 provides speechinput 170. Further, based on the images, the mobile device 110identifies a gesture, for example, a position of user's hand relative tothe user's mouth. Based on the position of user's hand relative to theuser's mouth, the mobile device 110 may determine a probability that theuser 130 is trying to cover the mouth with his/her hands while providinghis/her speech input 170. The mobile device 110 may further determinebased on the probability (or in combination with other speechcharacteristics) of the gesture whether the speech input 170 correspondsto a whispered speech or not. For example, a higher probability(relative to a predetermined probability threshold) associated with thegesture may indicate that the speech input 170 corresponds to awhispered speech, and a lower probability (relative to the predeterminedthreshold) may indicate that the speech input 170 corresponds to anon-whispered speech. In other embodiments, the mobile device 110 mayfurther use the gesture probability in combination with one or more ofacoustic/linguistic characteristics associated with the speech input 170to determine whether the speech input 170 corresponds to a whisperedspeech or not.

At block 340, when it is determined that the speech input 170corresponds to a whispered speech, the mobile device 110 routes, at theelectronic processor 224, via the wireless transceiver 214,communications corresponding to the speech input 170 to each targetdevice 120 included in the whispered speech target device routing list276. In accordance with some embodiments, the communications routed tothe target device 120 includes, but not limited to, one of audio data,text data, or combination of audio, text, or video data that arerepresentative of the speech input 170 received at the mobile device110. For example, the mobile device 110 processes the speech input 170and generates audio data from the received speech input 170 fortransmission to each target device 120 identified in the whisperedspeech target device routing list 276. As another example, the mobiledevice 110 processes the speech input 170 using speech-to-textconverter, and generates text data from the speech input 170 fortransmission to each target device 120 identified in the whisperedspeech target device routing list 276. In other embodiments, the mobiledevice 110 may also further combine the audio or text data withadditional data (such as location data, and image data acquired via thecamera, for example, of the user 130 or of the user environment), togenerate multimedia data for transmission to each target device 120identified in the whispered speech target device routing list 276.

In further embodiments, the mobile device 110 also modifies the speechinput 170 that corresponds to whispered speech to generate a modifiedspeech input that corresponds to a non-whispered speech, prior torouting communications corresponding to the modified speech input toeach target device 120 included in the whispered speech target devicerouting list 276. In these embodiments, the mobile device 110 modifiesthe speech input 170 by adjusting the one or more speech characteristicsassociated with the speech input 170 such that the one or more adjustedspeech characteristics are outside of the predetermined range of thewhispered speech level. Modifying the whispered speech to non-whisperedspeech prior to transmission ensures that the target devices 120 receiveaudio communications that are intelligible even though the originalspeech input may not be clear or audible due to the characteristics ofwhispered speech. In further embodiments, instead of modifying thespeech input 170 corresponding to the whispered speech, the mobiledevice 110 signals the target devices 120 receiving the communicationsto increase a volume level or adjust other acoustic characteristics toensure that the audio output is clear and audible to users at the targetdevices 120. In further embodiments, the mobile device 110 also sends afurther signal to the target devices 120 receiving audio communicationsof the speech input 170 to connect a machine (speech-to-text converter)or human transcriber, or combination thereof to a call to ensure thatthe content of the whispered speech is transcribed with high accuracy.

In accordance with some embodiments, the speech input 170 may bereceived at the mobile device 110 when the user 130 is in already inconversation with one or more other users via a private or group call.The mobile device 110 determines that a call mode is activated when thespeech input 170 is received during conversation with one or more otherusers via a private or group call. When the call mode is alreadyactivated, the mobile device 110 checks if each target device 120included in the whispered speech target device routing list 276 isassociated with the user's private or group call. Otherwise, if thereare target devices from the whispered speech target device routing list276 that are not included in the private or group call, the mobiledevice 110 routes the speech input 170 to target devices 120 from thewhispered speech target device routing list 276 that are not included inthe private or group call. Routing of communications corresponding tothe speech input 170 to such target devices may be achieved either viathe same call, for example, by adding the missing target devices to theexisting call or alternatively routing the communications individually(via a separate private or group call) to each of the missing targetdevices. When the call mode is not activated, i.e., when the speechinput 170 was captured at the microphone 250 during ambient listeningmode (e.g., when a virtual assistant at the mobile device 110 isactivated to listen to user's voice command or query) at the mobiledevice 110, the mobile device 110 activates the call mode to establish agroup call (or private call) with the target devices 120 included in thewhispered speech target device routing list 276 to route thecommunications corresponding to the speech input 170.

In some embodiments, after routing the communications corresponding tothe speech input 170 to each target device 120 included in the whisperedspeech target device routing list 276 as shown in block 340, the mobiledevice 110 continues to monitor subsequent speech inputs received viathe microphone 250 and repeats the features described in blocks 320, 330and 340 or 350 for the purposes of routing (or refraining from routing)communications corresponding to subsequently received speech inputsbased on whether the respective speech inputs correspond to whisperedspeech or non-whispered speech. In other embodiments, when thesubsequent speech input corresponds to non-whispered speech and when oneor more contextual parameters associated with the subsequent speechinput indicate that the user situation remains escalated, the mobiledevice 110 may continue to route communications corresponding tosubsequent speech input to each target device included in the whisperedspeech target device routing list 276.

Returning to block 330, when it is determined that the speech input 170does not correspond to the whispered speech, the mobile device 110proceeds to block 350 to perform one of: routing, at the electronicprocessor 224, via the wireless transceiver 214, communicationscorresponding to the speech input 170 to each target device 120 includedin the non-whispered speech target device routing list 274; andrefraining, at the electronic processor 224, from routing communicationscorresponding to the speech input 170 to any target device included inthe non-whispered speech target device routing list 274 or whisperedspeech target device routing list 276. As an example, the speech input170 may be received at the mobile device 110 as part of user'sconversation with one or more other users via a private or group call(i.e., when call mode is activated). In accordance with embodiments, thenon-whispered speech target device routing list 274 is updated toinclude only those target devices 120 with which the user 130 iscurrently communicating. Accordingly, when the speech input 170 isreceived at the mobile device 110 during the call mode, the mobiledevice 110 routes communications to each target device 120 (i.e. atarget device 120 associated with other users in the private or groupcall) included in the non-whispered speech target device routing list274. When the call mode is not activated, i.e., the speech input 170 wascaptured at the microphone 250 during ambient listening mode (e.g., whena virtual assistant at the mobile device 110 is activated to listen touser's voice command or query in response to receiving a user input, forexample, via a dedicated button or via detection of a wake-up keyword)at the mobile device 110, the mobile device 110 refrains from routingcommunications corresponding to the speech input 170 to any targetdevice included in the non-whispered speech target device routing list274 or whispered speech target device routing list 276. In this example,the mobile device 110 does not route communications to other userdevices because the user's speech input 170 corresponds to a voicecommand and may not be intended for transmission to another user device.In contrast, in this example, the mobile device 110 provides a localnotification or an audio response generated by the virtual assistant(for example, to be output at speaker 260) in response to user's voicecommand or query.

After routing or refraining from routing the communicationscorresponding to the speech input 170 to each target device 120 includedin the whispered speech target device routing list as shown in block350, the mobile device 110 continues to monitor subsequent speech inputsreceived via the microphone 250 and repeats the features described inblocks 320, 330 and 340 or 350 for the purposes of routing (orrefraining from routing) communications corresponding to subsequentlyreceived speech inputs based on whether the respective speech inputscorrespond to whispered speech or non-whispered speech.

FIG. 4 illustrates a first example scenario 400 in which the method 300of routing communications from a mobile device 110 to a target device120 is implemented in accordance with some embodiments. As shown in FIG.4, target devices 120-1 and 120-2 are included in the non-whisperedspeech target device routing list 274, and target devices 120-3 and120-n are included in the whispered speech target device routing list276. Also shown in FIG. 4 are a first speech input 170-1 and a secondspeech input 170-2 from the user 130 of the mobile device 110.

In the first example scenario 400, it is assumed that the call mode isactivated at the mobile device 110 when speech inputs 170-1 and 170-2are received from the user 130 of the mobile device 110. In other words,the mobile device 110 detects that speech inputs 170-1 and 170-2 asreceived as part of user's conversation with other users (i.e. ofdevices 120-1 and 120-2) via a talk group call. Accordingly, thenon-whispered speech target device routing list 274 is updated toinclude only target device 120-1 and 120-2 that are associated with atalk group in which the user is currently communicating. As an example,assume that the user 130 is a first responder who is responding to asituation at an incident scene and further the user 130 (via the mobiledevice 110) is in conversation with members of a talk group named‘medics’. In this case, the user 130 of the mobile device 110, viaspeech input 170-1, queries the members of the ‘medics’ talk group tocheck if the medical team is on the way to treat the injured people atthe scene. In accordance with embodiments, the mobile device 110determines that the speech input 170-1 corresponds to a non-whisperedspeech (e.g., a loud speech) and therefore accordingly routescommunications (i.e., “Is the medical team on the way?”) 410corresponding to the non-whispered speech to members of the current talkgroup or in other words, target devices 120-1 and 120-2 included in thenon-whispered speech target device routing list 274.

In the first example scenario 400, it is further assumed that after themobile device 110 routes the communications 410, the user 130 of themobile device 110 spots an armed man in the incident scene and thereforewhispers a speech input “I just spotted an armed man” 170-2 to avoidattention from the armed man. When the user 130 whispers the speechinput 170-2, the mobile device 110 identifies that there is a transitionin the speech, i.e., from non-whispered speech to whispered speech. Themobile device 110 may detect this transition based on the changingacoustic/linguistic characteristics that indicate that thecharacteristics are within the range of a whispered speech level. Insome embodiments, the mobile device 110 may detect this transition basedon additional sensor inputs (e.g., image data indicating that the user130 is attempting to cover his/her mouth using the hand) which mayindicate that the user 130 is whispering his speech. In any case, assoon as the transition is detected, the mobile device 110 identifiesthat the situation at the incident scene has escalated and thereforemodifies the routing procedure. The mobile device 110 may alsodynamically update the whispered speech target device routing list 276based on contextual parameters (such as location of the mobile device110) associated with the speech input 170-2. For example, the mobiledevice 110 updates the whispered speech target device routing list 276to include target devices (e.g., target devices 120-2 and 120-n) ofusers who may be located within a predefined distance from the locationof the mobile device 110 or the location associated with the incident.Accordingly, the mobile device 110, instead of continuing to routecommunications to the ‘medics’ talk group (i.e., target devices 120-1and 120-2 in the non-whispered speech target device routing list 274),modifies the routing procedure in order to route communications 420corresponding to the speech input “I just spotted an armed man” 170-2 totarget devices 120-3 and 120-n included in the whispered speech targetdevice routing list 276.

In accordance with some embodiments, in the first example scenario 400,it is possible that there may be more than one user (includingcivilians) who may have spotted the armed man and further more than oneuser may be whispering their speech during conversations with others viaa private/group call, or in-person. Similarly, it is possible that thereare other users at the location of the incident scene, but may not havespotted the armed man. In this case, a central device (the mobile device110 or a central controller such as command center (not shown)) thatcoordinates the communications between the first responders at theincident scene) may be configured to receive information (e.g. identityand location) about users who are whispering at the incident scene. Thecentral device may use this information to determine that the users whoare whispering speech inputs during conversations with others arerelatively closer to a person of interest (i.e., the armed man) asagainst other users who may be located at the incident scene. Thecentral device may further indicate the location of the person ofinterest (e.g., by providing a notification or visual map identifyingthe location of whispering users) to warn other users (nearby civiliansor other first responders) about the increased danger at the scene.

FIG. 5 illustrates a second example scenario 500 in which the method 300of routing communications from a mobile device 110 to a target device120 is implemented in accordance with some embodiments. As shown in FIG.5, target devices 120-1 and 120-2 are included in the non-whisperedspeech target device routing list 274, and target devices 120-3 and120-n are included in the whispered speech target device routing list276. Also shown in FIG. 5 are a first speech input 170-1 and a secondspeech input 170-2 from the user 130 of the mobile device 110.

In the second example scenario 500, it is assumed that the call mode isnot activated at the mobile device 110 when speech inputs 170-1 and170-2 are received from the user 130 of the mobile device 110. In otherwords, the mobile device 110 receives speech inputs 170-1 and 170-2 whenambient listening mode is activated at the mobile device 110. Theambient listening mode may be manually activated at the mobile device110 by the user 130 or alternatively remotely activated by a networkcomponent in the system 100. In accordance with some embodiments, avirtual assistant is implemented at the mobile device 110 and isconfigured to activate the ambient listening mode. The virtual assistantmay be a software application running on underlying electronic hardwarethat are capable of understanding natural language (i.e., unstructureddata inputs), and may complete electronic tasks in response to user'sspeech inputs. For example, the virtual assistant receives a speechinput “What's the weather now?” 170-1 and processes the speech input170-1 using natural language understanding algorithms to identify theintent and/or content of the speech input 170-1. Accordingly, thevirtual assistant, based on the identified intent and/or content of thespeech input 170-1, generates a response 510 (for example, via an audiooutput at the speaker 260 of the mobile device 110) with the weatherinformation “71° F., Partly Sunny!”. Further, in this case, the mobiledevice 110 determines that the speech input 170-1 corresponds to anon-whispered speech (e.g., a loud speech) and accordingly refrains fromrouting communications corresponding to the speech input 170-1 toanother device, i.e., to any target device included in the non-whisperedspeech target device routing list 274 or whispered speech target devicerouting list 276.

In the second example scenario 500, it is further assumed that after thevirtual assistant generates a response 510 for the user 130 of themobile device 110, the user 130 of the mobile device 110 hears shotsfired and thereafter whispers a speech input “I think shooter is in nextroom” 170-2 to avoid attention from the shooter who may be located inthe next room. When the user 130 whispers the speech input 170-2, themobile device 110 identifies that there is a transition in the speech,i.e. from non-whispered speech to whispered speech. The mobile device110 may detect this transition based on the changing acoustic/linguisticcharacteristics that indicate that the characteristics are within therange of a whispered speech level. In some embodiments, the mobiledevice 110 may detect this transition based on additional sensor inputswhich may indicate that the user 130 is whispering his/her speech. Inany case, as soon as the transition is detected, the mobile device 110identifies that the situation has escalated and thereafter routescommunications “I think the shooter is in next room” 520 correspondingto the speech input 170-2 to target devices 120-3 and 120-n included inthe whispered speech target device routing list 276.

As an example, assume that the user 130 is a civilian. The civilian user130 may maintain a whispered speech target device routing list 276 thatmay include one or more emergency contacts to which any whispered speechidentified as being associated with an escalated situation will berouted. For example, the target devices 120-3 and 120-n are identifiedas emergency contacts (for example, a family contact and/or an emergencycall number such as 911) that the user 130 has pre-stored at thewhispered speech target device routing list 276. In accordance with someembodiments, to avoid false trigger of an escalated situation, themobile device 110 also uses natural language understanding algorithmsand user context (as acquired from sensor inputs) in combination withdetection of whispered speech to determine that the situation hasescalated and thereafter routes speech input 170-2 to target devices 120included in the whispered speech target device routing list 276.

Although the speech inputs 170-1 and 170-2 illustrated in FIG. 4 andFIG. 5 to show non-whispered speech and whispered speech are differentin terms of spoken content, it is possible that the same speechinput/spoken content (i.e., utterance of same or similar words) may berouted to different set of target devices 120 based on whether thespeech input corresponds to a whispered speech or non-whispered speech.For example, assume that the user provides a speech input “I think theperson is here” 170. In this case, when the speech input “I think theperson is here” 170 does not correspond to a whispered speech, thecommunications corresponding to the speech input “I think the person ishere” 170 is routed to each target device 120 included in thenon-whispered speech target device routing list 274. On the other hand,when the speech input “I think the person is here” 170 corresponds to awhispered speech, the communications corresponding to the speech input“I think the person is here” 170 is routed to each target device 120included in the whispered speech target device routing list 276. In thisexample, the user is likely whispering “I think the person here” tomaintain his/her covert status and/or indicate an escalation of theincident to users of target devices 120 included in the whispered speechtarget device routing list 276.

In accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, system and methoddescribed herein can be advantageously employed to trigger a situationescalation response based on speech inputs. The embodiments describedherein automatically monitor speech inputs received at a mobile deviceand further route such speech inputs to selective target devices basedon whether the speech input corresponds to a whispered speech or not.Embodiments described herein automatically modify whispered speech inputto ensure that the whispered speech is intelligible for recipients.Embodiments described herein also automatically convert whispered speechinput to text data to ensure that any significant data associated withwhispered speech is not missed by the recipient during conversation.Embodiments described herein further allow dispatchers and othercoordinators to identify locations of persons of interest based on thelocations of users whispering speech inputs. Further, the automaticdetection of situation escalation based on whispered speech input andcorresponding context helps public safety agencies to rapidlydisseminate alert and warning notifications to civilians and otherpublic safety personnel at the incident scene.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have beendescribed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates thatvarious modifications and changes may be made without departing from thescope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly,the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrativerather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present teachings.

The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is definedsolely by the appended claims including any amendments made during thependency of this application and all equivalents of those claims asissued.

Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second,top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish oneentity or action from another entity or action without necessarilyrequiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between suchentities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has,”“having,” “includes,” “including,” “contains,” “containing” or any othervariation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, suchthat a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has,includes, contains a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by“comprises . . . a,” “has . . . a,” “includes . . . a,” or “contains . .. a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence ofadditional identical elements in the process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms“a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly statedotherwise herein. The terms “substantially,” “essentially,”“approximately,” “about” or any other version thereof, are defined asbeing close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and inone non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, inanother embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and inanother embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein isdefined as connected, although not necessarily directly and notnecessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” ina certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also beconfigured in ways that are not listed.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one ormore generic or specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such asmicroprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors andfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored programinstructions (including both software and firmware) that control the oneor more processors to implement, in conjunction with certainnon-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of themethod and/or apparatus described herein. Alternatively, some or allfunctions could be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certainof the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, acombination of the two approaches could be used.

Moreover, an embodiment may be implemented as a computer-readablestorage medium having computer readable code stored thereon forprogramming a computer (for example, comprising a processor) to performa method as described and claimed herein. Examples of suchcomputer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, ahard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storagedevice, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read OnlyMemory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM(Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flashmemory. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill,notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choicesmotivated by, for example, available time, current technology, andeconomic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principlesdisclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such softwareinstructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it may be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

We claim:
 1. A method of routing communications from a mobile device toa target device, the method comprising: storing, at a memory, anon-whispered speech target device routing list and a whispered speechtarget device routing list that is different from the non-whisperedspeech target device routing list; identifying, at an electronicprocessor, one or more speech characteristics associated with a speechinput received at the mobile device; determining, at the electronicprocessor, whether the speech input corresponds to a whispered speechbased on the one or more speech characteristics; when it is determinedthat the speech input corresponds to a whispered speech, routing, at theelectronic processor, communications corresponding to the speech inputto each target device included in the whispered speech target devicerouting list; and when it is determined that the speech input does notcorrespond to a whispered speech, one of: routing, at the electronicprocessor, communications corresponding to the speech input to eachtarget device included in the non-whispered speech target device routinglist, and refraining, at the electronic processor, from routingcommunications corresponding to the speech input to any target deviceincluded in the non-whispered speech target device routing list or thewhispered speech target device routing list.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein determining whether the speech input corresponds to a whisperedspeech, comprises: determining whether the one or more speechcharacteristics are within a predetermined range of a whispered speechlevel; and determining that the speech input corresponds to a whisperedspeech when the one or more speech characteristics are within thepredetermined range of the whispered speech level; and determining thatthe speech input does not correspond to a whispered speech when the oneor more speech characteristics are outside the predetermined range ofthe whispered speech level.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one ormore speech characteristics are selected from the group consisting of avolume level, energy level, frequency level, and amplitude levelassociated with the speech input.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein whenit is determined that the speech input does not correspond to awhispered speech, the method further comprising: determining whether thespeech input is received at the mobile device when a call mode isactivated at the mobile device; when the call mode is activated, routingcommunications corresponding to the speech input to each target deviceincluded in the non-whispered speech target device routing list; andwhen the call mode is not activated, refraining from routingcommunications corresponding to the speech input to any target deviceincluded in the non-whispered speech target device routing list orwhispered speech target device routing list.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein when it is determined that the speech input corresponds to awhispered speech, the method further comprising: determining whether thespeech input is received at the mobile device when a call mode isactivated at the mobile device; when the call mode is activated, routingcommunications corresponding to the speech input to each target deviceincluded in the whispered speech target device routing list; and whenthe call mode is not activated, activating the call mode to establish agroup call and routing communications corresponding to the speech inputto each target device included in the whispered speech target devicerouting list via the group call.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining, at the electronic processor, one or morecontextual parameters associated with the speech input; selecting, atthe electronic processor, one or more target devices based on the one ormore contextual parameters; and updating the whispered speech targetdevice routing list to include the one or more selected target devices.7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: defining a geofence basedon the one or more contextual parameters; and selecting one or moretarget devices to be included in the whispered speech target devicerouting list when the one or more target devices are located within thegeofence.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the whispered speech targetdevice routing list includes each of one or more target devices includedin the non-whispered speech target device routing list in addition tothe one or more selected target devices.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the whispered speech target device routing list includes atleast one target device which is not included in the non-whisperedspeech target device routing list.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinthe whispered speech target device routing list does not include atleast one target device which is included in the non-whispered speechtarget device routing list.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein when itis determined that the speech input corresponds to a whispered speech,the method further comprising: adjusting the one or more speechcharacteristics associated with the speech input to generate a modifiedspeech input such that the one or more adjusted speech characteristicsare outside of a predetermined range of a whispered speech level; androuting communications corresponding to the modified speech input toeach target device included in the whispered speech target devicerouting list.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicationsinclude one of audio, text, or multimedia data corresponding to thespeech input.
 13. A mobile device, comprising: a memory for storing anon-whispered speech target device routing list and a whispered speechtarget device routing list that is different from the non-whisperedspeech target device routing list; a wireless transceiver; and anelectronic processor communicatively coupled to the memory and thewireless transceiver, the electronic processor configured to: identifyone or more speech characteristics associated with a speech inputreceived at the mobile device; determine whether the speech inputcorresponds to a whispered speech based on the one or more speechcharacteristics; when it is determined that the speech input correspondsto a whispered speech, route, via the wireless transceiver,communications corresponding to the speech input to each target deviceincluded in the whispered speech target device routing list; and when itis determined that the speech input does not correspond to a whisperedspeech, one of: route, via the wireless transceiver, communicationscorresponding to the speech input to each target device included in thenon-whispered speech target device routing list, and refrain fromrouting communications corresponding to the speech input to any targetdevice included in the non-whispered speech target device routing listor the whispered speech target device routing list.
 14. The mobiledevice of claim 13, wherein the electronic processor is furtherconfigured to: determine whether the one or more speech characteristicsare within a predetermined range of a whispered speech level; anddetermine that the speech input corresponds to a whispered speech whenthe one or more speech characteristics are within the predeterminedrange of the whispered speech level; and determine that the speech inputdoes not correspond to a whispered speech when the one or more speechcharacteristics are outside the predetermined range of the whisperedspeech level.
 15. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the one or morespeech characteristics are selected from the group consisting of: volumelevel, energy level, frequency level, and amplitude level associatedwith the speech input.
 16. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein whenit is determined that the speech input does not correspond to awhispered speech, the electronic processor is further configured to:determine whether the speech input is received at the mobile device whena call mode is activated at the mobile device; when the call mode isactivated, route communications corresponding to the speech input toeach target device included in the non-whispered speech target devicerouting list; and when the call mode is not activated, refrain fromrouting communications corresponding to the speech input to any targetdevice included in the non-whispered speech target device routing listor whispered speech target device routing list.
 17. The mobile device ofclaim 13, wherein when it is determined that the speech inputcorresponds to a whispered speech, the electronic processor is furtherconfigured to: determine whether the speech input is received at themobile device when a call mode is activated at the mobile device; whenthe call mode is activated, route communications corresponding to thespeech input to each target device included in the whispered speechtarget device routing list; and when the call mode is not activated,activate the call mode to establish a group call and routingcommunications corresponding to the speech input to each target deviceincluded in the whispered speech target device routing list via thegroup call.
 18. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the electronicprocessor is further configured to: determine, at the electronicprocessor, one or more contextual parameters associated the speechinput; selecting, at the electronic processor, one or more targetdevices based on the one or more contextual parameters; and updating thewhispered speech target device routing list to include the one or moreselected target devices.
 19. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein whenit is determined that the speech input corresponds to a whisperedspeech, the electronic processor is further configured to: adjust theone or more speech characteristics associated with the speech input togenerate a modified speech input such that the one or more adjustedspeech characteristics are outside of a predetermined range of awhispered speech level; and route communications corresponding to themodified speech input to each target device included in the whisperedspeech target device routing list.
 20. The mobile device of claim 13,wherein the communications include one of audio, text, or multimediadata corresponding to the speech input.